


Tumblr Culture and False Equalities

by Tooticky (Fillyjonk)



Category: Sherlock - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-24
Updated: 2014-04-24
Packaged: 2018-01-20 15:27:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1515488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fillyjonk/pseuds/Tooticky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>GENDER CHOOSING:  Given that female is the revealed gender of most Tumblr users with whom I interact, I chose to use "she" as my default pronoun.  No offense intended to Tumblr-users who are male, especially the gif-creator, who is personally called "she" in this piece but might, for all I know, be a man.</p><p>***</p><p>Other rants I have brewing but will never type:</p><p>"There is a difference between 'getting hate' and 'having flaws in your argument pointed out to you.' "</p><p>"If you were 45 and you knew the person you were debating was 14, would you use the same words?"</p><p>"There are a lot of people in real life toward whom I wish no ill but whom I would not invite to dinner, and that's OK because they don't invite me to dinner, either.  But if they were trapped in a burning car, I would try to rescue them."</p><p>"Has anyone actually ever threatened Amanda Abbington's life on Twitter?  Or is that an urban legend?"</p><p>"How Tumblr is helping create a culture of labels within labels within labels for people - and how this might be both therapeutic and unnecessarily divisive."</p><p>***</p><p>My OTR (One True Rant):</p><p>"Why does a commentary about fan politics get so many more hits and comments than something that actually took a whole lot of effort and craftsmanship?!"</p><p>http://archiveofourown.org/works/1194345</p></blockquote>





	Tumblr Culture and False Equalities

My big concern with Tumblr-culture is its constant trend toward false absolutes and false equalities. "If X then definitely Y." 

For example:

"If you don't ship Johnlock, you're homophobic." That's a false equality. It's frequently stated as fact, and I imagine it's always irritating to those who don't ship Johnlock and yet are not homophobic. These two things can be simultaneously true:

1\. One does not ship Johnlock.  
2\. One is gay and proud.

These things can also be true:

1\. One ships Johnlock.  
2\. One is homophobic.

"If you don't like Mary, you're a misogynist." False equality. Not liking Mary does not equal misogyny. These things can be true at the same time:

1\. One does not like Mary Morstan.  
2\. One is an intelligent, feminist woman.

or...

1\. One loves Mary Morstan.  
2\. One is misogynist.

It seems as though Tumblr-entry into a cultural subgroup (say, Johnlockers) promotes allegiance to a specific dogma about others (say, non-Johnlockers are homophobic). And that repetition of the dogma gives it the quick veneer of truth. We tend to believe what we are repeatedly told - especially when it flatters us by pointing out the failings of others.

***

Now, the gif:

Let me say that I don't find it particularly funny or clever, the Gif That Must Not Be Named. (Sorry, GTMNBN-maker, but remember: you probably find some things I do unfunny and unclever. We each have our own audience.) It's not a gif that I would have made.

But I can see a number of potential readings of the gif. Here are a few, from most sophisticated to least sophisticated:

A) It's an insightful piece of performance art, designed to prompt exactly the reaction it did, a mirror-within-a-mirror look at online community and the post-S3 fan schism. (Nobody could be that clever.) (Well, one person could. But she's busy running another performance-art meta blog that's pissing people off.)

B) It's a meta-joke about the links between the audience and two separate shows. An in-joke to fans of both shows. Kind of like those GoT posters that say, "House Baggins: There and Back Again," or "House House: Not Lupus." You know, like... Martin plays a hammer-murderer on "Fargo," and he plays John on "Sherlock," and what if we combined those two things... who could John hammer?... OMG, John could hammer Mary! 

C) It's a hyperbolic commentary by a Mary-fan (MF) about her perceptions of non-Mary-fans (NMFs). The creator is telling the world that she believes NMFs desire an end to Mary. She's satirizing (via hyperbole) the negative feelings that NMFs have about Mary.

D) It's a hyperbolic commentary by a NMF about the way NMFs feel about Mary. The creator is telling the world that NMFs desire an end to Mary. She's satirizing (via hyperbole) the negative feelings that NMFs have about Mary. Kind of like Gatiss's referencing the end to another challenging character with his quip that "the dog could eat the baby."

E) and F) It's a nonhyperbolic commentary by either a MF or a NMF about her perceptions of people's actual feelings about Mary. The creator is telling the world that she believes NMFs really and truly do want to see John hit Mary over the head with a hammer. No exaggeration. 

G) It's a nonhyperbolic commentary about what the creator personally would like to see happen to Mary, the fictional character.

H) It's an intentional goading of MFs. 

I) It's an unintentional revelation of the creator's sentiments about domestic violence.

***

Now.

I have no idea what the gif-maker intended by the gif. I don't know her personally. I'd guess she was aiming for a mix of "B" and "D" in the list above. In the same way I don't believe Gatiss wants dogs to eat babies, I don't think the gif-creator wants John to kill Mary (or Martin to kill Amanda, or other men to kill other women). 

Did you find the gif distasteful? So goes the Internet. To me, the gif was neutral, with no moral component.

But these false equalities were set up:

"The person who made a gif about that scene from Fargo is morally wrong." (See "I" above.) False equality. Not enough evidence to prove or disprove the case.

and then...

"Any person who Tumblr-supported the person who made a gif about that scene from Fargo is also morally wrong." False equality. 

I believe that these two things can be simultaneously true:

1\. The gif does not offend me.  
2\. I am a good person, and not in need of moral reeducation.

Do with that what you will. Dislike me. Pray for me. Unfollow me. My Tumblr name is imtooticky.

**Author's Note:**

> GENDER CHOOSING: Given that female is the revealed gender of most Tumblr users with whom I interact, I chose to use "she" as my default pronoun. No offense intended to Tumblr-users who are male, especially the gif-creator, who is personally called "she" in this piece but might, for all I know, be a man.
> 
> ***
> 
> Other rants I have brewing but will never type:
> 
> "There is a difference between 'getting hate' and 'having flaws in your argument pointed out to you.' "
> 
> "If you were 45 and you knew the person you were debating was 14, would you use the same words?"
> 
> "There are a lot of people in real life toward whom I wish no ill but whom I would not invite to dinner, and that's OK because they don't invite me to dinner, either. But if they were trapped in a burning car, I would try to rescue them."
> 
> "Has anyone actually ever threatened Amanda Abbington's life on Twitter? Or is that an urban legend?"
> 
> "How Tumblr is helping create a culture of labels within labels within labels for people - and how this might be both therapeutic and unnecessarily divisive."
> 
> ***
> 
> My OTR (One True Rant):
> 
> "Why does a commentary about fan politics get so many more hits and comments than something that actually took a whole lot of effort and craftsmanship?!"
> 
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/1194345


End file.
